<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Juwan Howard learned when he arrived in Houston that it was not his job to carry the team offensively. The same was true for David Wesley, who was one of the New Orleans Hornets' leading scorers before the Dec. 27 trade. That doesn't mean they can't still score, though. And neither one minds proving it. The Rockets have shown during the past month that even though their offense starts with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, that's not where it ends. In seven of the last 11 games, the Rockets have had at least five players score in double figures. They've accomplished that feat a total of 14 times this season. "I think that makes us a tough team to guard, and it makes a lot of people happy ? that unselfish style, making that extra pass, a lot of assists to our baskets," Wesley said. "That makes it fun for everybody, not just a few guys. It's kind of nice." In addition to Yao and McGrady's consistent double-digit scoring nights, the rest of the rotation has gotten in on the action during the past 11 games. Bob Sura and Wesley have reached double figures in eight of those games. Howard has done it seven times, and Jon Barry and Scott Padgett have each accomplished it four times.</div> Link Getting guys involved has been one of the most pleasant things about the team last night. Besides Yao and McGrady, other players have stepped up and taken over in clutch situations. This has enabled defenses to be honest and double-team Yao and T-Mac less, as they know that the three other players on the floor can all shoot and won't mind shooting.
Totally. We're doing very well with passing the ball around and that has contributed to our winning streak. However, I'm still a bit concerned about our decreasing defense. Offense wins games, defense wins championships. We're letting other teams get easy shots and their out rebounding us, so sooner or later it will probably hurt us. Houston's players aren't the most athletic, so running the ball too much might tire them out and will end up with other team's late surges. I just hope they can pick up their defense so that way, they'll make a successful run in the playoffs.
The Rockets are playing some brilliant offensive ball of late, but I agree that even if we do win games, our defense isn't up to scratch. On many occasions we have been lucky to win against teams who make 4th quarter run to blast the lead that we may have developed in the 1st three quarters. Because of this, we've had close game which really shouldn't have been close at all if our defense was better. And when the playoffs come, it will hurt us unless we work on it.
